“By the way, Lord Waldmere, did your wife transact this business under her own name, or a fictitious one?”
“An assumed name, of course.”
“The one by which you are known here?”
“What was it?”
Lord Waldmere scratched his head, staring desperately at the carpet for several moments.
“Dash it, sir! I’ve jolly well forgotten,” he cried dubiously. “’Pon my honor, Mr. Carter, I can’t remember.”
“Rack your brains for a moment,” Nick suggested, though he had no great hope of any desirable result.
“Hang it, sir! I’m giving them a ripping racking. But Mollie always kept the bally ticket, you see, and I had no hand in the blooming business. She has a head for it, don’t you know, and I always let her run things for me. Blast it, sir, I can’t remember!”
“Well, well, never mind,” Nick said, a bit bluntly. “Whom did you see in the loan office?”